


When Overprotectiveness Collides

by Keibey



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 18:17:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7064890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keibey/pseuds/Keibey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nanako was the little sister of the Investigation Team, and Ken was the little brother of the other SEES members. What will happen when they start dating?</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Overprotectiveness Collides

**Author's Note:**

> Repost from my LJ; Perfect World AU. It's 2022, everyone is alive and well. Except Koromaru because he was an old dog to start with. u___u Written for [zweilous's](http://zweilous.livejournal.com/) birthday! May be subjected to editing in the future.

Nanako met him when she was on her way to visit Souji in the city.  
  
Everyone had been so anxious about her going alone, even though by now she could make the trip from Inaba to Iwatodai blindfolded. It wasn’t like she was unarmed either; she had many kung-fu moves from Chie-nee, she could disarm and cripple someone with a fan thanks to Yukiko-nee, she could _severely_ hurt someone with the small, sturdy stick-disguised-as-a-keychain Rise-nee had given her, and, should that all fail, she had the small but fierce LCD flashlight that doubled as a can of mace from Naoto-kun.  
  
She didn’t know what compelled her to continue beyond the quiet, polite exchange of greeting between two strangers whose eyes met accidently and really _talk_ to him, but it might have something to do with the thousand-yard stare he had. That was something she knew very well; her big bro and his closest friends all had it.  
  
After a few chance encounters at the station, she found that he was very pleasant, very well mannered, if a bit too formal, and sometimes Nanako thought she saw the saddest expression in his eyes. He – Amada Ken, he had provided courteously before she had to struggle with an awkward pause – was different, somehow. Almost like there’s this certain air about him, something she noticed around big bro and his friends.  
  
Ken’s smile always seemed a bit too old for someone who didn’t look like they had a lot of years on her, but when he laughed – that brightened Nanako’s day.  
  
They found a café nearby, and began waiting there for their next trains instead, over coffee. He drank his black, much to her amusement, because it was impossible to keep it down if there wasn’t sugar and milk in hers. Ken had laughed, and said that he’d had enough milk to make him avoid it for the rest of his life.  
  
The little café, in the two chairs by the window, was where she learned more about him. Ken was a quiet person, quieter than even Nanako herself, and a wonderful listener, but she catches bits and pieces of his life here and there. That he had gone through Gekkoukan as well, although apparently he had missed Souji just by a year. That he lost his parents early in his life, and had his senpai for his family. That he was so often at the station over the weekend because of the same reason as her, trekking all over to visit everyone he knew.  
  
Mostly he talked about the people important to him, and Nanako didn’t mind listening, because it filled her with a comforting warmth to hear about these people that she never met but were clearly very significant in his life.  
  
There was Yamagishi-san, a genius with computers but could never quite figure out what to do with hardcopies; Kirijo-san, the one who keeps everyone in line while juggling her job as CEO of the Kirijo group; Sanada-san, apparently the worst offender in forgetting that Ken was no longer ten and could never stop fussing over him; Takeba-san, who tended to have frequent mood swings but was actually very nice; Junpei-san, a comic book publisher, though no one was sure how he got that position; Aigis-san, a foreigner who had finally gotten the customs of Japan down, but was still as quirky as ever; Aragaki-san, a master at cooking, and weak to the puppy-eyes; Minato, Minako and Ryoji, whose names were never far from each other in a sentence and were, as she guessed, inseparable.  
  
In return Nanako talked about her own makeshift family: her dad, her big bro and Yosuke-nii, Chie-nee and Yukiko-nee, Kanji-kun and Naoto-kun – though she was careful to be vague about Naoto-kun’s gender –, Rise-nee and “freeloader” Teddie. Ken didn’t seem too surprised to learn that she knew Risette, and though he commented on the idol’s – singer now, she reminded herself – career, it was more out of politeness than anything.  
  
Though Nanako can’t remember when exactly they began officially putting a name to these meetings – without a doubt Ken could tell her when it started down to the exact minute – she did remember the determined, hopeful glint in his eye when he asked.  
  
She wasn’t his first girlfriend, he had admitted, but that was alright; he wasn’t her first boyfriend either. In Inaba, she had gone out with a nice boy in her class, but he had gotten more and more skittish around her big bro and his friends, and it had been over within a week. It didn’t take long for her to put two and two together, though there wasn’t much she could do.  
  
She and Ken were definitely dating by the time her eighteenth birthday came around, though.  
  
That was probably the reason October suddenly turned very, very hectic.  


 

 

  
  
On the forth of October, Nanako knew she wouldn’t see Ken. It was the day Aragaki-san had literally dodged death – there was a bit of wry humour in his eyes when he said that, the same humour that shone whenever he mentioned Ryoji-san, and maybe that was an inside joke she might never be privy to – and there was a long, established tradition of crashing his senpai’s house and having a party.  
  
Nanako didn’t mind; Ken had sounded so happy when he had given her a recap of those from previous years, and it was important to him, she could tell. There was still a bit of guilt in his eyes whenever he mentioned Aragaki-san. Whatever had happened between them, he needed this to remind himself that he was forgiven.  
  
So she spent the afternoon and night with big bro and her friends in the Dojima residence, enjoying every moment of their company. Yukiko-nee had helped Souji prepare some dishes for dinner, and although Yosuke-nii still looked apprehensive, Nanako had assured everyone that it was good. Of course, nothing could compare to Souji’s cooking, and it made her wonder whether Aragaki-san’s food was this good. Maybe she would have a chance to try it someday.  
  
A familiar ringtone interrupted her thoughts, and she hurriedly excused herself from the table, carefully stepping over Teddie who was wrestling Kanji-kun down.  
  
“Hello?” she said quietly, and her lips pulled into a smile when she heard Ken’s voice on the other end.  
  
“Hello, Nanako,” he sounded a bit breathless, his words a bit hard to pick out from the background noise, “Happy birthday. I’m sorry I–”  
  
Ken didn’t get to finish before a loud crash and a resounding slap interrupted him. “Stupei! Stop trying to lift up my skirt– Argh! That’s _it_!” It was followed by a high-pitched scream that reminded Nanako of Yosuke-nii.  
  
“Junpei-san, please be careful,” the female voice this time sounded completely unruffled, “You’ll get blood on the food.”  
  
“It’s okay,” she reassured him after she had reined in her giggles and he had finished heaving a longsuffering yet amused sigh, “I’ll see you over the weekend, right?”  
  
“Of course,” he answered immediately, and Nanako could almost see the easy smile he’d have on his face, “I promised.”  
  
Nanako opened her mouth to reply, but Chie-nee’s nervous laughter distracted her. “Can we not play the King’s Game? I mean, Rise and Yukiko aren’t exactly in their right minds…”  
  
“Then a game of ‘I Never’!” Teddie gleefully called out, and Nanako swore that it was just juice that was swishing around his cup. Apple juice that was foaming a bit from being sloshed around like that.  
  
…Maybe she’ll have to talk to Yosuke-nii about sneaking things into the house behind her back.  
  
“No, that would make it worse–!”  
  
It took her a moment to pick out Ken’s laughter over the chaos on either side, but plugging her exposed ear helped. “I think we both have our hands full at the moment,” his voice is amused, and Nanako thought she understood that combination of affection and irritation very well.  
  
“I’ll see you soon, then,” she said, listened to Ken echo the sentiment fully just before someone called to him, and then snapped her phone shut in time to keep Teddie from spilling his drink everywhere.  
  
Yes, she thought as she gave the cup a sniff, Yosuke-nii definitely needed a talking to.  
  
\+ + +  
  
On Sunday, she stepped out of the Iwatodai station almost ten minutes earlier than the time she and Ken had agreed on, only to find him already waiting for her. She ran the rest of the way, smiling up at him when he reached out and held her hand like it was the most natural thing in the world.  
  
“So, lunch?” he asked a bit teasingly when her stomach made an abrupt growl. She gave him a light punch, knowing full well he had let it land. There had been times when she tried to get his attention, and he had absently dodge her hand like it was second nature before snapping back to the present.  
  
“I bet you’re hungry too.” She stuck her tongue out at him, and Ken made an exaggerated face at her.  
  
“Hungry enough to eat a horse,” he sighed dramatically, and they started walking, “I ducked out of the apartment before Sanada-san could complain about the empty fridge and the old water.”  
  
As they walked through the park, they were stopped by a friendly dog, and Nanako knelt to pet it. When it enthusiastically tried to lick her face, she laughed and pushed it playfully away. She anticipated teasing from Ken, but he was half turned away, staring back the way they came with a questioning tilt to his head.  
  
She followed his gaze, but she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. “Ken?” She stood, a bit concerned, and he blinked owlishly at her.  
  
“Oh, it’s nothing,” he smiled, taking her hand again, “Say, your friend who works at Junes – he has reddish brown hair, doesn’t he?”  
  
“Yes, Yosuke-nii dyes his hair,” she answered, a bit confused, and then it dawned on her, “Did you see him?” Nanako peered over her shoulder, and sure enough, there _was_ a flash of red tinted brown behind a tree. There might have been a red sweater behind that other tree too, and if Yukiko-nee was here, then Chie-nee couldn’t be far.  
  
Nanako huffed. Doubtless _everyone_ was here. She didn’t need this right now.  
  
“They’ve been following us from the station, but I wasn’t sure who they were,” Ken looked amused when he met Nanako’s eyes. “Hanamura-san is very bad at hiding.”  
  
“Yosuke-nii was horrible at hide-and-seek, even when big bro helped him,” she rolled her eyes, and she felt relieved when Ken only laughed. He didn’t seem fazed at all, but then again, Souji and the others never had a chance to talk to him alone…  
  
“I better not make you cry, then,” he joked, and Nanako socked him in the shoulder again.  
  
“You better not,” she threatened, but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. With that, they wordlessly agreed to ignore the tailing gang and continued on their way.  
  
It was only a few blocks later, though, that Ken paused with a slight frown on his face. “Junpei-san, Takeba-san?” he called, and a beat later two people appeared from behind the vending machines.  
  
“Yo,” the man looked sheepish, but he was making a valiant effort to look normal. “’Sup, Ken? Are you on a date?”  
  
The lady stomped on his shoe, and Junpei-san yelped. “Have some tact, Stupei!”  
  
“Um,” Nanako started awkwardly, and Takeba-san seemed to remember herself.  
  
“I’m Takeba Yukari, it’s nice to meet you.” The lady smiled and bowed slightly. “This is Iori Junpei. You must be Dojima Nanako, right?”  
  
“Y-yes.” The sudden turn from angry to pleasant was catching Nanako off guard, but she remembered to bow. “It’s nice to meet you.”  
  
“Did Sanada-san ask you to follow me?” Ken asked patiently once the introductions were over.  
  
Takeba-san and Junpei-san exchanged an uneasy glance, but before neither could reply, there was a loud commotion in the back alley. The two were gone in a flash, and when Nanako glanced at Ken, he looked conflicted – torn, she realized, between following and staying with her.  
  
“Let’s go,” she prompted with more confidence than she felt, but a feeling told her everything would be alright. Ken nodded curtly, and then they ran after them together.  
  
It was chaos in the back alley; instantly she recognized Souji’s friends, and, though she had never seen them before in her life, the others could only be Ken’s senpai.  
  
“Isis!” Takeba-san was yelling, a gun pointed at her own head, and what seemed like a woman’s head and torso with wings as arms materialized over her, the red orb between the horns glowing briefly before it vanished.  
  
Chie-nee pushed Yukiko-nee out of the way as green wind speared up from the ground under her, and when it cleared neither of them looked any worse for wear. “Come! Hi-ya!” Chie-nee spun around, and her kick clipped something that shone in the air, a sharp shattering sound ringing out. A black and white knight, curiously armoured in semi-traditional clothes, appeared behind her.  
  
A large fist appeared right above the tall man with a red trenchcoat and black toque - Aragaki-san - but he nimbly stepped out of the way with a scoff before it could land. Junpei-san beside him gave a yap when a blast of green wind knocked him off his feet, and Yosuke-nii gave a whoop of victory. "Dude, that's what I'm talking about!"  
  
Ken was moving again, pulling her along behind the loose line Ken's senpai created, and as she hurried past the white haired man standing beside Aragaki-san - Sanada-san, her memory supplied belatedly - , she saw him fire the gun in his left hand right against his forehead. Nanako felt the immense presence appear behind her, and there was a crackling of lightning in response on the other side.  
  
"Ken-kun!" It was the man in the yellow scarf who called to them, pointing further into the alley. "Minato-kun and Minako-chan are over there."  
  
“Thank you, Ryoji-san!” Ken nodded in thanks, but he didn't pause.  
  
Nanako spotted her big bro talking to a man and a lady, and when she saw their faces she knew right away that they were twins. "Nanako?" Souji sounded surprised, and she could already see the over protectiveness taking over in his mind.  
  
“We came when we heard the commotion,” she explained, trying to sound reassuring.  
  
The man with midnight blue hair inclined his head politely when Ken stopped in front of him, and the lady smiled. "Ken-kun! You should have told us you had a girlfriend earlier." Her chipper tone sounded completely out of place with the chaos that was taking place less than a metre away.  
  
"Minako-san, I don't think this is a good time." It might have been the trick of the light, but Nanako thought she could see a dusting of pink on her boyfriend's cheeks. The lady just laughed good-humouredly. "What is happening?"  
  
"Ryoji felt a Shadow wondering around. We tracked it here." Minato-san’s voice was quiet and unflappably calm, and although there was an air of drowsiness around him, his gaze was bright and sharp.  
  
“And we were doing the same with Teddie,” Souji added, a thoughtful frown marring his face.  
  
Nanako didn’t understand what was happening, but there _was_ one thing she did. “Shouldn’t we stop them first?”  
  
At the same time, Minato-san and Minako-san turned to her, and she couldn’t help but notice that their gaze had the same quality. “Hmm, that’s right.” The lady cast a sidelong glance at her twin, and they stepped towards the chaos at the same time, guns in their hands.  
  
“Gurr,” Minato-san said firmly just as Minako-san called “Garuda!” And then they spoke together, eerily in sync as they pulled the trigger, “Raktapaksha!”  
  
Ken’s arms were around her before the sudden gust of wind hit, but she heard the chorus of yaps, grunts and swearing that told her everyone had been caught off guard. “Are you alright, Nanako?” She nodded as he released her, smiling to hide the uncertainty she was feeling. He turned to her big bro, looking as serious as he had when she had first met him. “Seta-san, could we leave the healing of your team to you?”  
  
Souji nodded, his eyes cutting over to Nanako before he closed his eyes in concentration. He passed a hand over his face, and then when a glowing card appeared over his palm, he crushed it without hesitation. A light bathed his friends, and he walked over to help Yosuke-nii stand when Nanako gave him a reassuring nod.  
  
“Just stand back a bit, Nanako,” Ken took a short step and turned away from her – there was a gun in his hand. Even his broad back couldn’t block everything; she watched him put the barrel right against the middle of his forehead, and her eyes involuntarily closed as he pulled the trigger.  
  
“Kala-Nemi!” She felt the presence loom in front of her, but she didn’t feel afraid. It seemed ridiculous to be afraid of what is a part of her boyfriend’s soul – his Persona.  
  
Nanako blinked, wondering where that information had came from, but Ken’s hand had found hers, and she didn’t want to wait for him to have to lead her over to where everyone had converged.  
  
“– just the embodiment of all Shadows,” Minako-san was cheerfully finishing, “He is completely harmless, you don’t have to worry.”  
  
“How could he possibly not be dangerous?” Naoto-kun had that sceptical look on her face, “Surely as Persona users you’ve faced your own share of Shadows.”  
  
“We are well aware of how dangerous Shadows are.” The woman with red hair must have been Kijiro-san; she had the stance of someone used to authority. “Mochizuki will not be a problem.”  
  
Rise-nee stepped forward, a visor over eyes and a tall, decidedly faceless woman behind her. “This guy _does_ feel like Teddie, but I can’t get a reading on his power level.” The figure behind her disappeared, as did the visor.  
  
“There really is no need to worry,” the quiet green haired girl spoke up, “Ryoji-san is no different than your friend. I can feel it.”  
  
“Teddie has a Persona, however,” Souji sounded as serene as always, easily taking the leader role. His friends fell quiet, attentive and edgy.  
  
“Ryoji may not have or need a Persona to use skills, but he has no intention of harming humans.” Minato-san was just as composed and quiet as Souji – although curiously his voice reminded her of Yosuke-nii –, and maybe that was why everyone seemed to relax slightly. “He has lived as a human for over ten years now.”  
  
“Ted has been freeloading off of us for a long time too.” Yosuke-nii’s unintended complaint brought a small smile to both the twin’s lips.  
  
“So has Ryoji,” Minako-san laughed, “All he does is try to pick up girls; I’ve been saying we should get him a job in a host club.”  
  
“That doesn’t–”  
  
There was a snort from the back. “Tch, what are you all arguing for?” All eyes fell on Aragaki-san, who jerked his head to the side. Teddie and Ryoji-san were talking animatedly, seeming to be completely absorbed in exchanging stories.  
  
Nanako thought she heard something about “scoring” and “girls,” and her suspicions were confirmed when Yukiko muttered darkly, “Well, if they’re both _that_ stupid, we’d have nothing to worry about.” Nanako was about to breathe a sigh of relief as the tension ebbed when the tall man spoke again.  
  
“Hey, Ken,” Aragaki-san’s gruff voice had a way of sounding horribly serious, and rather terrifying, “When were you going to tell us about her?”  
  
“I didn’t want a repeat of last time,” he defended, and at those words there was guilty shuffling all around, although the twins were completely nonchalant, “And I didn’t think you would be interested, Aragaki-san. “  
  
The man grunted, his sharp gaze flicking to Sanada-san lazily. “I wouldn’t, but Aki wouldn’t shut the hell up about you because of this.”  
  
“You were just as worried, Shinji,” the white haired man pointed out indignantly. Aragaki-san made a noise that somehow managed to imply the very words, “is that so?” and the two were locked in a staring match.  
  
“Wait, Nanako-chan,” Chie-nee sounded confused, either completely obvious to the tension between the two men or just ignoring it, “How long have you been dating this guy?”  
  
“Hmm, it sounds like there’re lots to discuss. Shinjiro-senpai, your restaurant is closed for the day, isn’t it? Let’s sit down there,” Minako-san suggested blithely, hooking an arm in her brother’s, and Souji, without missing a beat, offered his. The lady accepted it with an amused smile, and then the whole group was moving off seamlessly. “Ryoji, come on!”  


 

 

  
Although they had given her over a week to digest the new information – Personas, Shadows, the Dark Hour and the Midnight Channel – Nanako honestly hadn’t expected yet another group meeting so soon, but she didn’t exactly mind heading out to Iwatodai and seeing Minako. The first thing the lady had done upon seeing her was insist adamantly that she “didn’t learn Ken’s bad habit of being formal,” and after a while she had given in.  
  
Both twins were equally, ridiculously easy to talk to, despite their personalities being as different as night and day, and several times she found herself wanting to spill the beans on things she would have only told Souji before.  
  
Ken, however, absolutely refused to leave her alone with any of his senpai for any reason, going as far as not even touching the glass of water in front of him. “Is this really necessary?” he finally asked after a while, not exactly sulking, but ill at ease.  
  
“Of course it is, silly,” Minako laughed, looking ridiculously comfortable sitting in Ryoji’s lap; there were only four chairs around the table, and the other three were occupied by Souji, Ken and Nanako herself, while Minato leaned casually against the back of Ryoji and Minako’s chair. Try as she might, Nanako still couldn’t tell what kind of relationship the twins and Ryoji had. “We’re all worried about you, especially Akihiko-senpai.”  
  
“I’m twenty four, you can trust my judgement,” Ken mumbled, but without heat; he was so shy around Minako, but then so was every other male Nanako knew. Well, apart from Souji, of course.  
  
“Maybe I just wanted to give Nanako-chan some tips and warnings on dating you,” she teased, and Ken’s face might have gone a shade redder.  
  
“Minako-san!”  
  
“We wanted to tell you that neither party will investigate further,” Souji put in calmly, looking amused. “By pooling our information together, we saved Naoto and Fuuka a lot of time on intelligence gathering.”  
  
“Man, those meetings were horrible,” Ryoji commented with a grimace. “The arguments were giving me a headache.”  
  
Minato chuckled. “We’re all just looking out for our own.”  
  
“Well, then,” Minako looked eager, smiling brightly, “We should all be there for you when you go meet Dojima-san, Ken-kun!”  
  
Nanako couldn’t help but stifle a laugh as Ken groaned at the suggestion, but she froze when Souji made a thoughtful hum. “Dojima-san wouldn’t be able to relate to him the same way my team could,” that seemed to be a profound truth, because the twins and Ryoji nodded solemnly, “I’ll arrange for them all to be there too.”  
  
“Tonight is a good night, all SEES members are free,” it was Minato’s soft voice, and Nanako wondered if the man had memorized his friends’ schedules like she suspected Souji had.  
  
Her big bro nodded, flipping open his cell phone and texting without looking at the screen, “Kanji has a deadline coming up, but he’ll be willing to lose a night for Nanako. I’ll contact the Investigation Team right now.”  
  
“Alright, I’ll get a hold of Akihiko-senpai, Shinjiro-senpai and Junpei,” Minako had her cell phone out too, fingers flying across the keypad, “brother, you have the girls’ numbers on speed dial, right?” Minato nodded, his own cell phone already out.  
  
Ryoji smiled when Nanako met his eyes. “You get used to it after a while,” he explained, and Ken agreed with a sigh, “Do you want to exchange numbers, Nanako-chan?”  
  
“Do you keep everyone’s timetable in your head?” she asked jokingly, and the three of them laughed.  
  
“Nope.” The man somehow managed to pull his phone out of his pocket without disturbing Minako, and Nanako keyed in her number, calling it so that her own would have a record of Ryoji’s. “Everyone else has my number under ‘Death on Vacation;’ it’s a running gag of sorts,” he added cheerfully, and suddenly Nanako realized she, indeed, now had Death on speed dial.  
  
Following that epiphany was another: the whole Shadow elimination team her boyfriend was a part of was coming over to her house that night, and her big bro was bringing over his own Shadow kicking team to back them up.  
  
It was going to be an interesting night.


End file.
